Sam Vecenie is bringing his Game Theory Podcast to Barstool Sports. He’s leaving The Athletic making his announcement on The Ryen Russillo Show.
What We Know: Vecenie joined The Athletic as a senior NBA writer back in 2017. He announced the jump to Barstool on Friday’s episode of The Ryen Russillo Show. Game Theory will keep its two-day-a-week offseason schedule, then shift to Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday releases once the NBA season starts. Producer Steve Ceruti will also take on a bigger role with the show, on top of his usual duties on Russillo’s program.
What They Said: (All quotes via The Ryen Russillo Show):
Sam Vecenie (via The Ryen Russillo Show Show): “I’m super excited to team up with you. I’m super excited to team up Barstool [Sports]. I think this is an amazing, fun ride that we’re gonna go on. I couldn’t be more pumped. It’s gonna be great.”
Sam Vecenie (via The Ryen Russillo Show Show): “We have a couple of really fun people that are going to come on throughout the year. Definitely a couple of episodes a month they’re going to be draft centric, so really excited about that. Then throughout we’re just going to supplement with different interviews, people who want to come on. I hope that some of the Barstool [Sports] people want to join in and have some fun. I’m looking forward to expanding this now that I don’t have any writing to do anymore.”
What Remains Unclear: Vecenie didn’t say who else might round out the Game Theory lineup this year as far as guests. Meanwhile, no word yet on how The Athletic’s NBA desk will fill Vecenie’s void. Financial terms of the Barstool deal remain unannounced.
What It Means: Barstool keeps building out its NBA content offerings ahead of the NBA season. Moreover, pairing Vecenie’s draft expertise with Russillo’s audience gives both shows a boost. In addition, cutting ties with daily writing frees Vecenie to focus purely on audio and video. Therefore, for listeners, that likely means more interviews and less print-style analysis.
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